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city by city Art trend: new tapestry Tapestry has been given a new lease of life as contemporary artists rethink traditional techniques. WGSN tracks the trend. The once dowdy art of tapestry has been given a new lease of life by contemporary artists, highlighted at the new London exhibition Demons, Yarns & Tales at The Dairy, a new gallery set in a converted milk depot. The show has been three years in the making, with 14 high-profile artists asked to reinterpret and experiment with tapestry to create new works. Some pieces carry a dark, biting edge: Kara Walker's features a silhouette of a lynched figure against a historical backdrop, while Grayson Perry litters his with images of terrorism and war, as "a Bayeux tapestry for modern times". Others rethink the traditional with everyday images of modern life: Gavin Turk's Mappa Del Mundo is a world map made from crumpled crisp bags, cigarette packs and cans, while Julie Verhoeven's Far from the Madding Crowd features stylised waifs along with Disneyesque creatures. We also picked up the trend at the current Venice Architecture Biennale, where Amsterdam-based studio Thonik has created huge graphic tapestries as an installation in the cavernous Arsenale space, suspending 16 hand-knotted carpets from the ceiling. Over in New York, The Essential Art of African Textiles exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features a glittering wall tapestry by El Anatsui. The artist reinterprets traditional techniques using metal as a key material. At London art fair Scope (October 16-19), Rob Scholte exemplified a strong trend for subverted handcraft at the show with his rustic tapestries. Scholte rethought traditional pony-and-trap or wildlife scenes with a coarse, homespun style. More commercial pieces take on a quirky, kitsch quality, seen on Frédérique Morell's ironic patchwork cushions and furniture, made from vintage recycled tapestries. Look out for second-hand framed pieces sold in vintage stores too, such as Speedie's on East London's Redchurch Street. Frédérique Morell |